Tour de France 2013: Chris Froome in yellow after stage win

Tour de France

Dates: Saturday, 29 June - Sunday, 21 July (8 and 15 July are rest days)

Coverage: Live commentary on the final hours of each stage on BBC Radio 5 live sports extra or online; live text commentary on BBC Sport website

Chris Froome produced a sensational ride to emphatically win stage eight of the Tour de France and take his first race leader's yellow jersey.

The Briton sprinted away from his main rivals, including Alberto Contador, on the final climb to the summit finish at Ax 3 Domaines in the Pyrenees.

Analysis

Graham JonesRadio 5 live sports extra co-commentator

"That was an emphatic display by Chris Froome and Team Sky. It's been a tough week but he was chomping at the bit.

"Team Sky put a plan into action and it worked perfectly although I think they will be surprised just how much time they put into the likes of Alberto Contador because that final climb was not particularly long by Tour de France standards.

"I was very impressed with Peter Kennaugh's performance. We have been waiting a while to see him at a Grand Tour and he did a fantastic job on the penultimate climb and looked comfortable on that descent.

"The morale of Froome's rivals is going to have taken a big hit. They could try to attack on Sunday but they might not have the legs if Sky set the tempo high again.

"There are days coming up in the mountains where I can see Froome winning this like Tours of old."

He beat Richie Porte by 51 seconds and leads his Team Sky team-mate by the same margin in the overall standings.

Contador lost one minute, 45 seconds to Froome and is seventh, 1'51" down.

"I couldn't be happier," said 28-year-old Froome.

"It has been a nervous week leading up to now but my team has done a fantastic job and to repay my team-mates with a stage win and Richie coming second, I couldn't have asked for more."

South Africa's Daryl Impey started the day in the yellow jersey but the Orica GreenEdge rider, who is more of a sprinter than a climber, knew he would be losing the race lead on Saturday's first day in the mountains.

He suggested that Froome would be one of the riders to keep an eye on and the race favourite, who finished second behind Sir Bradley Wiggins last year, did not disappoint.

The first 120km of racing was reasonably flat and calm with a four-man breakaway - which included Christophe Riblon, who won a similar race to Ax 3 Domaines in the 2010 Tour - opening up a lead of more than nine minutes at one point.

However, the lead was slowly whittled away and was down to around one minute by the time the leaders had reached the bottom of the day's biggest climb - the hors categorie Col de Pailheres.

Riblon made a solo bid for the stage win on the ascent, while Team Sky controlled the pace of the peloton.

Several riders, including France's Tommy Voeckler, who won the 2012 King of the Mountains classification, and Dutch climber Robert Gesink also made solo breaks but they were soon caught and overtaken by Colombia's Nairo Quintana.

Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play.

Froome 'in fantastic position' after stage win

The Movistar rider then chased down Riblon and was first over the summit of the 2,001m-high Col de Pailheres to win the souvenir Henri Desgrange - the prize awarded to the first rider to reach the highest point of the overall race.

Team Sky's Peter Kennaugh took over the pacing duties towards the top of the climb and led the peloton on the descent, chipping away more than 30 seconds of the one minute advantage that Quintana had built up.

The Isle of Man rider then set a furious pace up the final 7.8km ascent to Ax 3 Domaines - so furious that he ran out of energy and was forced to drop away with around 6km remaining.

That left just Porte to pace Froome and the duo upped the tempo, catching and passing Quintana in the next kilometre before Froome took off on his own to record a memorable victory.

Not only did Froome beat the likes of two-time Tour winner Contador and Quintana by one minute, 45 seconds, he also put more than four minutes into 2011 champion Cadel Evans.

Alejandro Valverde, who was third on the stage, lost 1'08" but is third overall, 1'25" behind Froome.

Brits in Tour de France yellow

Bradley Wiggins
- 2012 (13 days)

Chris Boardman
- 1994, 1997, 1998 (6 days in total)

David Millar
- 2000 (3 days)

Chris Froome
- 2013 (1 day)

Sean Yates
- 1994 (1 day)

Tom Simpson
- 1962 (1 day)

Slovakia's Peter Sagan picked up 10 points in the green points jersey classification after finishing behind Andre Greipel in the day's intermediate sprint, which came just before the mountain ascents.

With the four riders in the breakaway claiming the big points on offer, German Greipel won the race from the peloton to claim 11 points, with the Isle of Man's Mark Cavendish getting nine points.

Sunday's stage nine is a second and final day in the Pyrenees. The 165km race starts in Saint-Giron and features four category one mountain climbs and one category two ascent but finishes with a descent into Bagneres-de-Bigorre.

I'm very stupid and didn't understand why a person born in one country could represent another in pro sports. But I've been doing some research and apparently it has to do with something called 'Migration'.

Hurrah for clean cycling!!! Of course it's normal for two cyclists from the same team to completely blow away some of the best climbers in the world - Marginal gains!!! Where can I buy the 'bread and water that Team Sky have for brakfast?

Tyler Hamilton stated that to be in the top of the tour field it was nearly impossible to do so with out the assistance of some illegal substances. I use to love this sport and was fortunate to attend several times including camping on Mount Ventoux, but for the past 3 years now I have not watched a single race. In fact today is the first time I actually read a headline.

I like Cycling and riding push bikes generally, ever since I got my tricycle, but Anderson Silva is fighting Chris Weidman for the Middleweight mixed martial arts world championship. Why isn't the BBC reporting it? It's one of the few sports the British are one of the absolute best at -only the States and Brazil have produced more world class fighters than England. Come on BBC "Wake Up!"

whilst frome is more than a decent racer.....he was the guy sniping at wiggo's win in the last tour. also his girlfriend with all the opinions.both very much nrrd to grow up and keep comments private......

This page is best viewed in an up-to-date web browser with style sheets (CSS) enabled. While you will be able to view the content of this page in your current browser, you will not be able to get the full visual experience. Please consider upgrading your browser software or enabling style sheets (CSS) if you are able to do so.